Dr Tan Hui Yin (front row, fourth from left) with Dr John James Wilson (front row, second from left) in a group photograph which included the other facilitators from the University of Malaya as well as TAR University College staff and students who attended the workshop.
Dr John James Wilson guiding the students on the use of bioinformatics tools for sequence analysis.
TAR University College via the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Computing jointly organised the Biodiversity, Butterflies & DNA Barcoding Workshop with the Museum of Zoology, University of Malaya which was held on 17 February 2016 at Block D in TAR University College. The aim of the workshop was to introduce students to biodiversity monitoring, identification and DNA barcoding of butterflies. Another pressing objective was to create conservation awareness on butterflies among the students. The representative from the University of Malaya to facilitate the workshop was Dr John James Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Biodiversity and Assistant Curator of the Museum of Zoology at the Institute of Biological Sciences. He was accompanied by four other colleagues from the Museum of Zoology, University of Malaya.
There were 20 workshop participants who were students from the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Bioscience with Chemistry and students from the Foundation of Science programme. The first session of the workshop included the introduction on ways to identify butterflies based on morphology where students were also taught on techniques to sample butterflies. The students were able to practise this newly learned technique around the campus grounds of TAR University College. The second part of the workshop saw students having the opportunity to perform sequence editing and analysing butterfly DNA barcode results using bioinformatics tools.
"The workshop provided great exposure for students to learn more about the biodiversity of butterflies as well as about DNA barcoding which proved to have captured the interest of the students, "Dr Tan Hui Yin, Associate Dean of the Department of Bioscience and Sport Science explained.
